Water Storage 101

Water can take up a lot of space. If you don’t have much room in your home, you might want to check out my other post, The Easiest Way to Purify Water. But if you have enough room and don’t want to worry about hauling water back and forth from a pond, here’s what you need to know.

Water is the nectar of life – Other than oxygen, nothing is more important to your survival. The body uses water for digestion, transporting nutrients, building tissue, removing waste, and regulating body temperature, among other things. Without water, you would only last a few days.

Don’t count on tap water – If a disaster happens, most water treatment plant employees will not show up to work. And if the power is out, they wouldn’t be able to run the plant anyway. But even if there is power and they make it to work, they might not be able to get the supplies they need due to truck drivers who can’t get into town.

Store 2 gallons of water per person PER DAY – Although technically you only need to drink a half gallon a day, you might find yourself perspiring more than usual while gathering supplies, clearing debris, etc. People in this situation might need to drink as much as a gallon a day. The other gallon is for cooking and bathing. Also, don’t forget to store at least a quart of water per day for pets.

Store at least 4 weeks of water – That’s the bare minimum. If you have infants, elderly, or sick people in your home, 8 weeks is the bare minimum.

Use thick storage containers – Ordinary plastic containers are too thin and leak or break after only a few months. Instead, find some official water storage containers.

Keep it cool – Your water should be kept in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight or heat sources.

Rotate every year – You should write down the date when you put water into storage so you know how old it is. After 10 or 11 months, start drinking and replacing it.

Warnings:

Do not use empty milk jugs – No matter how well you clean them, you might not be able to remove bacteria that have become lodged in the plastic.

Do not store your water near gasoline. pesticides or toxic substances. Even good containers are slightly porous and it’s possible for fumes to eventually make their way inside to the water.

Water is heavy – It’s about 8 pounds per gallon, so be sure to keep it somewhere with adequate support. Garage floors and basements are ideal.

Do not drink pool water – I’m sure there are many people with pools who aren’t bothering with water storage, but this is a huge mistake. Although chlorinated, pool water contains many chemicals that are unsafe to drink.

Other Thoughts

Buy collapsible containers – 5-gallon collapsible containers can be found for around 10 bucks at most sporting goods stores. In case a disaster happens and you don’t have any water, you might have time to fill these containers with tap water before the water supply is contaminated or the pressure is gone.

Use bleach – This is for those who didn’t purchase distilled water. You can make regular water last a lot longer by putting 8 drops of bleach in every gallon. After doing so, wait 30 minutes and see if you can smell the chlorine. If you can’t, add some more.

Pour your water – If your storage water tastes stale, try pouring it back and forth from one container to another several times. This gets oxygen back into the water and improves the taste.

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Comments

Potassium Permanganate crystals , have many uses including cleaning water, make the water light pink. Darker and it’s great for foot bacteria.
Mix the crystals with Suger 3/1 and crush and you make fire.
Drip a v strong solution on boiling Oil and you can get a fire over 1000degrees, to this on iron, steel etc.hot enough to bang metal back into shape.

I bought the water bricks and been filling them with distilled water. Do i need to “treat” the water with anything. And also should I rotate them?? Will the water go bad?? I’m new to all this and really am clueless.

The issue of being able to drink pool water has differing opinions. I asked the CDC for theirs. They gave a rather extensive answer, but the short answer is “yes, it’s drinkable” BUT they suggest a water tester (for gauging the chemicals present in the water). They did confirm the use of crystallized or powdered “shock” treatment to kill bacteria, which surprised me and they explained how (how many parts per 10-gallons, etc.) to use for the treatment. BUT my biggest concern with pool water is that when there is no electricity, every pool in the neighborhood will eventually become a breading ground for mosquitoes and rodents and black algae, and become a major nightmare.

Not really. Water bottles are made of plastic and have a best by date on them. Not because the water will go bad , but because the plastic bottle will start to leach chemicals into the water as the plastic bottle begins to degrade. This is why you should store them in a cool dark place. UV light and heat will start to degrade and break down the plastic. This is why you should store water in only approved containers. There are different types of plastics and some are not good for storing water in. Reusing plastic containers that held other products can hold contaminants from the previous contents, that leeched into the plastic container’s pores. Plastic has pores and can retain harmful chemicals, that then will contaminate the water you put in it.

I have been recycling cat litter containers. The sand type comes in heavy plastic jugs. I wash them throughly and fill them with water and store it in the garage. They hold a lot and even if it is only used to wash they may come in handy one day.

Water storage is an often overlooked part of prepping. Many of us live in the city and don’t have wells from
which to draw water. We ordered some water bricks online. They don’t get so heavy and you can stack them in your spare room or the garage. Here is the link: http://www.shelfreliancesanantonio.com/jmp/jmp_water_brick.php

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